Has anyone ever experienced this??? I went to the doctor's yesterday and the medical assistant took me into a room (with an adjoining bathroom), asked me to get a urine sample and weigh myself, then left. It was a digital scale, so I weighed myself, then it shut off. She came back into the room, asked me my weight, then wrote it down. Huh? I have to wonder if people would lie or shave off a few pounds. I told her the truth, but I kept wondering if there was a way they can go back and check it! Lol!
I'm unsure why your doctors are all so obsessed with weighing people! Unless it's a specific height and weight check-up (you get one each time you sign with a new doctor but never again) or something to do with blood pressure, diabetes, etc. you just don't get weighed at the doctor.
The hospital is different, they are taking BMI statistics but they come up with a variety of other bovine fecal excuses for why they are taking the measurement, and the excuses change every time you attend. I started refusing to be weighed, it was a long haul up the corridor and a giant hassle for me to be weighed (getting weighed from a wheelchair is appallingly hard going) and then I found out that *shock horror * I was fat. That's all they wanted to tell me. I know there must be some patients who genuinely don't realise, but they could save everyone a lot of time by just asking, I'd have told them my BMI, but all they say is come with me so you think it's your appointment and then you find you are trapped in a room where all they do is weigh and measure you.
Very strange, they won't even take our word for it on height never mind weight, and nobody has any great incentive to fib about their height! I can only imagine it's some kind of experiment in weight honesty (unlikely) or they just want to try to take the pressure off for people who don't attend the doctor at all because of their weight. My mum is one of those people, if there was any threat she'd be weighed she won't go at all, and better to have healthcare than no healthcare.
Like I asked the doctor at the last appointment, if you can't tell looking at me whether or not I'm obese what does my actual weight matter? If a 300lb woman goes into the doctor's office she's not got a great BMI, right? So does it matter if she's 300, 305 or 315? If you aren't giving an anaesthetic the minutiae of weight don't matter.
I once went in for an infected tick bite and they tried to weigh me. I declined. And usually I just say "can I tell you my weight" and then they write it down.
I'm unsure why your doctors are all so obsessed with weighing people! Unless it's a specific height and weight check-up (you get one each time you sign with a new doctor but never again) or something to do with blood pressure, diabetes, etc. you just don't get weighed at the doctor.
I've honestly never thought too much about this. I guess I just figured it was to prescribe correct dosages of meds? Wouldn't weight matter then? I know I was asked my weight the one time I got an antibiotic shot.
I'm unsure why your doctors are all so obsessed with weighing people! Unless it's a specific height and weight check-up (you get one each time you sign with a new doctor but never again) or something to do with blood pressure, diabetes, etc. you just don't get weighed at the doctor.
One major reason is in case any medications are to be given and the dosage depends on the weight.
Weight is a reflection in part on our health and it is their responsibility to track all aspects of our health.
on rare occasions it would matter for a medication. Heparin shots and some iv abx require a weight for example. Besides that, medication dosages for children are weight based. Also, if you have kidney disease or certain heart conditions tracking your weight is important. Most of the time it is a totally pointless act and I have refused before.
I have NEVER been lucky enough to get that. My wonderful BF gets that, and we go to the same small Primary and have the same one assistant.
I don't think I get the pass because I am now diabetic officially, and our last discussion was me begging not to be on more meds (I take two, now) and promising I would lose weight. Since that argument in May, I lost about 20 lbs, and just enoug for him to give me a pass until January, to re-assess. I suppose it is a way for doctors to not upset patients with that uncomfortable chatter about an obvious subject.
Everytime I go in for a physical the doctor weights me, but thats the only time and someone is always doing it for me. I never have to do it myself. Maybe that one person was uncomfortable doing it? Maybe she's had bad experiences with it so she allows people to do it for themselves instead of dealing with them *****ing and complaining about it? Who knows...
Very rarely, the nurse will just take my word on what I weigh. Usually it's days that it's freezing and I don't want to peel off half my clothes to get an accurate weigh in. I'm at the dr. pretty often though because my students do a great job of getting me sick, so the dr. gets to see me weigh in pretty often.
If a 300lb woman goes into the doctor's office she's not got a great BMI, right? So does it matter if she's 300, 305 or 315?
They can probably also tell she's not 8 feet tall to make that a decent BMI.
Now that you mention it, I've been weighed at under- normal- and over-weight. Dutifully written down, asked my height (which I was under-reporting since they stopped measuring that before I stopped growing apparently) and then never discussed. So you're right - what was the point?
The last time I went, they had the scale on the metric setting and the nurse covered it with her hand, turned it off, then wrote it down. Why? Is she trying to shield me from my fatness? Sister, I carry it around. I KNOW.
I don't really mind getting weighed. Sure I don't like someone seeing my weight, but I just do it and get over it and move on.
I was at the ER yesterday, and they took me in a room and asked me how much I weigh. I told them and they took my word for it. They were really busy though and mentioned that there was only one doctor working so they probably didn't want to go through the hassle.
I wonder what they would have done if I said I was 120lbs or something LOL. They probably would have looked at me like I was crazy and made me weigh.
Weird scale experience at doc's
